As of 2022, the U.S. states with the highest death rates from suicide were Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming. In Wyoming and Montana, there were around 29 and 28 suicide deaths per 100,000 population, respectively. In comparison, in New Jersey, the state with the lowest suicide death rate, there were only around eight suicide deaths per 100,000 population. Differences in suicide rates by gender In the United States, there is a vast difference in suicide rates between men and women, with rates over 3.5 times higher among men. However, rates of suicide for both men and women have increased over the past couple of decades. Among men, those aged 75 years and older have the highest suicide rates, with around 42 deaths per 100,000 population in 2021. Among women, those aged 45 to 64 years have the highest rates of suicide death with 8.2 deaths per 100,000 population. What is the most common method of suicide? In the United States, the most common method of suicide is with firearms, followed by suffocation and then poisoning. In 2022, there were around 27,032 suicide deaths from firearms in the United States, compared to 12,247 deaths from suffocation and 4,894 from drug poisoning. In 2021, firearms accounted for around 60 percent of suicide deaths among men. In comparison, around 35 percent of deaths from suicide among women were due to firearms, while suffocation and poisoning each accounted for 28 percent of such deaths.

South Korea currently has the highest overall suicide rate among OECD countries worldwide. The suicide rate among women in South Korea is significantly higher than that of women in any other country. Nevertheless, suicide is commonly more prevalent among men than women. Suicide in the U.S. The suicide rate in the United States has risen since the year 2000. As of 2021, there were around 14.1 deaths from suicide per 100,000 population. The suicide rate among men in the U.S. is over three times what it is for females, a considerable and troubling difference. The suicide rate among men increases with age, with the highest rates found among men aged 75 years and older. Adolescent suicide Adolescent suicide is always a serious and difficult topic. A recent survey found that around 30 percent of female high school students in the United States had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, compared to 14 percent of male students. On average, there are around 11 suicide deaths among adolescents per 100,000 population in the United States. The states with the highest rates of adolescent suicide include Idaho, Colorado, and Utah.

The suicide rate among females in the United States is highest for those aged 45 to 64 years and lowest among girls aged 10 to 14 and elderly women 75 and over. Although the suicide rate among women remains over three times lower than that of men, rates of suicide among women have gradually increased over the past couple decades. Suicide among women in the United States In 2021, there were around six suicide deaths per 100,000 women in the United States. In comparison, the rate of suicide among women in the year 2000 was about four per 100,000. Suicide rates among women are by far the highest among American Indians or Alaska Natives and lowest among Hispanic and Black or African American women. Although firearms are involved in the highest share of suicide deaths among both men and women, they account for a much smaller share among women. In 2020, the firearm suicide rate among women was 1.8 per 100,000 population, while the rates of suicide for suffocation and poisoning were 1.7 and 1.5 per 100,000, respectively. Suicidal ideation among women Although not everyone who experiences suicidal ideation, or suicidal thoughts, will attempt suicide, suicidal thoughts are a risk factor for suicide. In 2022, just over five percent of women in the United States reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Suicidal thoughts are more common among women than men even though men have much higher rates of death from suicide than women. This is because men are more likely to use more lethal methods of suicide such as firearms. Women who suffer from substance use disorder are significantly more likely to have serious thoughts of suicide than women without substance use disorder.

The countries with the highest suicide mortality rate worldwide in 2019 included Lesotho, Guyana, and Eswatini. Suicide rates of men are much higher than among women in many countries. Lithuania has one of the highest suicide rates for men as of 2019, while South Korea reports the highest suicide rate for women.

In the United States

Although the United States is not among the countries with the highest suicide mortality rate, suicide is still one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. As with other countries, the suicide rate among males in the U.S. is much higher than among females. The age group with the highest rate of suicide is those aged 45 to 64 years, followed by 25 to 44-year-olds. The states with the highest suicide rates are Wyoming, Alaska, and Montana.

Risk factors and help

Major risk factors for suicide include mental health issues and substance abuse problems; however, it can be difficult to predict who is at risk. Warning signs such as talking about wanting to die, expressing feelings of depression, suicidal ideation, and abusing drugs or alcohol should be taken seriously and help should be sought as soon as possible. Suicide hotlines exist in many countries around the world and one should not hesitate to discuss such issues and feelings with a health care provider.

Download data on suicides in Massachusetts by demographics and year. This page also includes reporting on military & veteran suicide, and suicides during COVID-19.

Data on death rates for suicide, by selected population characteristics. Please refer to the PDF or Excel version of this table in the HUS 2019 Data Finder (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/contents2019.htm) for critical information about measures, definitions, and changes over time.

SOURCE: NCHS, National Vital Statistics System (NVSS); Grove RD, Hetzel AM. Vital statistics rates in the United States, 1940–1960. National Center for Health Statistics. 1968; numerator data from NVSS annual public-use Mortality Files; denominator data from U.S. Census Bureau national population estimates; and Murphy SL, Xu JQ, Kochanek KD, Arias E, Tejada-Vera B. Deaths: Final data for 2018. National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 69 no 13. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2021. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/nvsr.htm. For more information on the National Vital Statistics System, see the corresponding Appendix entry at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus19-appendix-508.pdf.

Montana was the state with the highest rate of suicidal death among adolescents in the U.S. in 2022, with around 39 deaths per 100,000 adolescents. The overall suicide rate in the U.S. has increased over recent years. Suicide is more common among men than women with rates among men over three times higher than among women. Risk factors Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder, and personality disorders, as well as substance abuse. In fact, suicidal thoughts, plans to commit suicide, and suicide attempts are all more common among those with drug or alcohol dependence or abuse. In terms of suicides due to a known mental disorder, depression accounts for around 72 percent of all such suicides. Methods Most suicides in the United States are carried out by firearms, however, the most common method of suicide differs from country to country. In 2022, over 27,000 suicides in the United States were conducted by firearms, or just over half of all suicides that year. Firearms are the most common means of suicide among both men and women in the United States, but suicide by poisoning is much more common among women than men.

Number of suicides, suicide rates and median registration delays, by local authority in England and Wales.

The average for 2019 based on 12 countries was 11.65 suicides per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Guyana: 40.3 suicides per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Venezuela: 2.1 suicides per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2000 to 2019. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

South Korea Male Suicide Rates decreased by 1.1% in 2019, compared to a year earlier.

Suicide mortality rate is the number of suicide deaths in a year per 100,000 population. Crude suicide rate (not age-adjusted).

Since the 1950s, the suicide rate in the United States has been significantly higher among men than women. In 2022, the suicide rate among men was almost four times higher than that of women. However, the rate of suicide for both men and women has increased gradually over the past couple of decades. Facts on suicide in the United States In 2022, the rate of suicide death in the United States was around 14 per 100,000 population. The suicide rate in the U.S. has generally increased since the year 2000, with the highest rates ever recorded in the years 2018 and 2022. In the United States, death rates from suicide are highest among those aged 45 to 64 years and lowest among younger adults aged 15 to 24. The states with the highest rates of suicide are Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming, while New Jersey and Massachusetts have the lowest rates. Suicide among men In 2023, around 4.5 percent of men in the United States reported having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Although this rate is lower than that of women, men still have a higher rate of suicide death than women. One reason for this may have to do with the method of suicide. Although firearms account for the largest share of suicide deaths among both men and women, firearms account for almost 60 percent of all suicides among men and just 35 percent among women. Suffocation and poisoning are the other most common methods of suicide among women, with the chances of surviving a suicide attempt from these methods being much higher than surviving an attempt by firearm. The age group with the highest rate of suicide death among men is by far those aged 75 years and over.

The average for 2019 based on 41 countries was 12.93 suicides per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Lithuania: 26.1 suicides per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Turkey: 2.4 suicides per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2000 to 2019. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Suicide mortality rate is the number of suicide deaths in a year per 100,000 population. Crude suicide rate (not age-adjusted).

In 2019, Female Suicide Rates in Norway remained stable compared to a year earlier.

Suicide mortality rate is the number of suicide deaths in a year per 100,000 population. Crude suicide rate (not age-adjusted).

The average for 2019 based on 7 countries was 11.99 suicides per 100,000 people. The highest value was in the USA: 16.1 suicides per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Italy: 6.7 suicides per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2000 to 2019. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

BackgroundIn Europe, men have lower rates of attempted suicide compared to women and at the same time a higher rate of completed suicides, indicating major gender differences in lethality of suicidal behaviour. The aim of this study was to analyse the extent to which these gender differences in lethality can be explained by factors such as choice of more lethal methods or lethality differences within the same suicide method or age. In addition, we explored gender differences in the intentionality of suicide attempts.Methods and FindingsMethods. Design: Epidemiological study using a combination of self-report and official data. Setting: Mental health care services in four European countries: Germany, Hungary, Ireland, and Portugal. Data basis: Completed suicides derived from official statistics for each country (767 acts, 74.4% male) and assessed suicide attempts excluding habitual intentional self-harm (8,175 acts, 43.2% male).Main Outcome Measures and Data Analysis. We collected data on suicidal acts in eight regions of four European countries participating in the EU-funded “OSPI-Europe”-project (www.ospi-europe.com). We calculated method-specific lethality using the number of completed suicides per method * 100 / (number of completed suicides per method + number of attempted suicides per method). We tested gender differences in the distribution of suicidal acts for significance by using the χ2-test for two-by-two tables. We assessed the effect sizes with phi coefficients (φ). We identified predictors of lethality with a binary logistic regression analysis. Poisson regression analysis examined the contribution of choice of methods and method-specific lethality to gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts.Findings Main ResultsSuicidal acts (fatal and non-fatal) were 3.4 times more lethal in men than in women (lethality 13.91% (regarding 4106 suicidal acts) versus 4.05% (regarding 4836 suicidal acts)), the difference being significant for the methods hanging, jumping, moving objects, sharp objects and poisoning by substances other than drugs. Median age at time of suicidal behaviour (35–44 years) did not differ between males and females. The overall gender difference in lethality of suicidal behaviour was explained by males choosing more lethal suicide methods (odds ratio (OR) = 2.03; 95% CI = 1.65 to 2.50; p < 0.000001) and additionally, but to a lesser degree, by a higher lethality of suicidal acts for males even within the same method (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.32 to 2.02; p = 0.000005). Results of a regression analysis revealed neither age nor country differences were significant predictors for gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts. The proportion of serious suicide attempts among all non-fatal suicidal acts with known intentionality (NFSAi) was significantly higher in men (57.1%; 1,207 of 2,115 NFSAi) than in women (48.6%; 1,508 of 3,100 NFSAi) (χ2 = 35.74; p < 0.000001).Main limitations of the studyDue to restrictive data security regulations to ensure anonymity in Ireland, specific ages could not be provided because of the relatively low absolute numbers of suicide in the Irish intervention and control region. Therefore, analyses of the interaction between gender and age could only be conducted for three of the four countries. Attempted suicides were assessed for patients presenting to emergency departments or treated in hospitals. An unknown rate of attempted suicides remained undetected. This may have caused an overestimation of the lethality of certain methods. Moreover, the detection of attempted suicides and the registration of completed suicides might have differed across the four countries. Some suicides might be hidden and misclassified as undetermined deaths.ConclusionsMen more often used highly lethal methods in suicidal behaviour, but there was also a higher method-specific lethality which together explained the large gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts. Gender differences in the lethality of suicidal acts were fairly consistent across all four European countries examined. Males and females did not differ in age at time of suicidal behaviour. Suicide attempts by males were rated as being more serious independent of the method used, with the exceptions of attempted hanging, suggesting gender differences in intentionality associated with suicidal behaviour. These findings contribute to understanding of the spectrum of reasons for gender differences in the lethality of suicidal behaviour and should inform the development of gender specific strategies for suicide prevention.

In 2023, South Korea's suicide rate reached 27.3 deaths per 100 thousand population. Although the suicide rate has declined compared to about 10 years ago, South Korea still has the highest suicide rate among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Mental health in South KoreaIn the last decade, the population has been shaken by the suicides of many prominent South Korean politicians and celebrities. In South Korea, mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, along with financial hardships, have been identified as significant contributing factors that lead individuals to attempt suicide. According to a survey conducted in 2023, around 46 percent of South Korean respondents reported experiencing severe stress, making it the most commonly reported type of mental health problem that year. Nevertheless, very few people want to consult a psychiatrist because of the stigma attached to mental health issues. Suicide prevention In response to the escalating suicide rates, the government introduced its first suicide prevention program in 2004. Since then, several measures have been implemented to address this pressing issue. For instance, Seoul City initiated the "Bridge of Life" project on the Mapo Bridge, a well-known site for suicide attempts. The primary goal of the project was to provide comfort to individuals contemplating suicide by projecting uplifting messages and images on the bridge. In 2021, however, it was decided to remove the messages and slogans due to their limited impact. If you are having suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is, it is essential to seek help. Many countries have suicide crisis or prevention lines that offer free advice and support in such situations. If you live in the United States, you can reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by simply calling 988 to receive free and confidential support 24/7. If you live in South Korea you can call the suicide prevention hotline 109.

U.S. suicide rate for 2019 was 16.10, a 2.55% increase from 2018.

• U.S. suicide rate for 2018 was 15.70, a 1.26% decline from 2017.
• U.S. suicide rate for 2017 was 15.90, a 5.3% increase from 2016.
• U.S. suicide rate for 2016 was 15.10, a 4.86% increase from 2015.